Maximizing Time: Optimizing for Productivity

“Make use of TIME let not advantage slip“

William Shakespeare

To successfully have control of time, one must adhere to the following tips;

Optimizing your environment

Turn off all distractions. 

“Multitasking” makes people feel more productive, but research shows that it makes us less productive. The temptations of email are strong. But frequent interruptions make us dumber and it takes much longer than expected to get back on task.

So when it’s time to focus,

• Set your phone to Do Not Disturb.
• Close all browser windows that aren’t directly related to the task at hand.
• If part of your work is composing emails, get into a state where you can write them without seeing new ones come in.
• Turn off email push notifications on your computer.
• Log out of chat.

Find your flow time. 

If your day is constantly interrupted by meetings, it’s very difficult to get into the flow state. It is, therefore, necessary to find and maximize time between complex tasks.

Master your tools. 

If you use a computer all day, every time you reach for your mouse, it slows you down a little, and you lose a little bit of flow. You want to interact with your computer at the speed at which you think. Doing so requires learning the keyboard shortcuts of the software you used most.

Optimize your mind

Take regular breaks. 

Common sense tells us that the more time we spend working, the more work we’ll get done; but that’s just not true. Humans are not robots. Our minds need time to recharge. Research suggests that a 15-minute break every 90 minutes is a good rule of thumb for accomplishing more by doing less.

Overcome procrastination by facing discomfort. 

I don’t procrastinate because I’m lazy; I procrastinate because my highest priority task makes me subtly (or not-so-subtly) uncomfortable. When this happens, you should:

• Be honest about what’s making it uncomfortable. Explicitly, compassionately write down (or share with a friend) the exact source of the discomfort.
• If you don’t have the energy to face the fear right now, then at least do the second-highest-priority thing on your list, rather than switching to Facebook. 

Optimize your process

Get clarity of plan 

A lot of un-productivity arises from a lack of prioritization. It being unclear what you actually need to do to achieve your goal, and what’s highest priority.

Publicly commit to a deadline. 

Harness peer pressure to your advantage. If an important task doesn’t have a natural deadline, I’ll tell people confidently, “I will send you a copy by end of day Friday.” Now I don’t want to look ridiculous in front of my teammates, so I will naturally make damn sure it’s ready for them by Friday.

Take time to reflect. 

Budget just a few minutes at the end of each day, and consider what went well and what went less well. Are there improvements you could make in your workflow next time? If every day you could get 1% more efficient, then by the end of the year you’d be 15 times as productive.

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Culled from: Time.